A Cure for Epilepsy

In a recent post on Science Daily (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130503230317.htm) Scott C. Baraban, PhD states that, "Our results are an encouraging step toward using inhibitory neurons for cell transplantation in adults with severe forms of epilepsy." The procedure was conducted on mice and was effective. He also states that, "This procedure offers the possibility of controlling seizures and rescuing cognitive deficits in these patients." The procedure consisted of implanting brain cells to stop the overactive nerve endings to remain active and cause a seizure. Since epilepsy has become a growing problem, especially in adults, it is good to know scientists are close to finding a cure or a way to stop the seizures that epileptic patients suffer from.



image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZrsHq2gK0owtCJXwVKBWtNT6RtXKV4-zIYD3Ymz3aFexfMrnwz0_KesAWtVwDxBifjtF0hnGMwXiI3XlMAhUzOOS7J66ohmAU4uptupAjKHuSbi3tDPh4CFABDc-V0d1ksEIS_9NGE5w/s1600/Nursing+Diagnosis+for+Epilepsy.jpg

Earth Is Hotter Than We Think

In a recent article released on Science Daily (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130425142355.htm) states that the earth's core is said to be 6000 degrees Celcius which is 1000 degrees warmer than what was proven 20 years ago. Although science has changed from 20 years ago, Agnès Dewaele from the CEA says that "In practice, many experimental challenges have to be met,"and that the experiment could be flawed because there has yet to be an accurate way to measure the temperature of the earth's core. Even if a sample reaches the extreme temperatures and pressures at the centre of the Earth, it will only do so for a matter of seconds. In this short time frame it is extremely difficult to determine whether it has started to melt or is still solid." he states. As he continues to talk about the expierment he hopes that science will develop enough where there are little to no flaws in the expierment.

I think this article is a great example of how fast science is growing and how much we still need to learn about the planet we live on. It is also a great goal for scientists to reach to try to perfect the experiment and know more than we've ever known before.

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Thermometer_0.svg

SAT: So Much More Than a Number

Many high schoolers are now headed off to take one of the most stressful tests that determines their future: the SAT and the ACT. Hearing my sister, a neuroscience major at Elon University, talk about a study she came across with my dad that shows the SAT and the ACT don’t particularly show how much students know and don’t know. Because I could not find the exact study, I found this article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/what-do-sat-act-scores-really-mean/2012/09/24/33e341c0-0675-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_blog.html) The US had a bad year for SAT and ACT scores in 2011 and 2012 because scores have greatly declined. Bob Schaeffer, from the  public education director of FairTest, or the National Center for Fair & Open Testing states that, “High school grades — even with all the variety between schools and courses — are better predictors of a teenager's performance in higher education, particularly the likelihood of graduation.” The stress of getting two numbers that define where you will spend the rest of your academic carrier is a scary thought, and in his opinion does not truly reflect the student. “At a minimum, we are failing to make the progress promised by high-stakes testing advocates either in terms of improving overall readiness for college/careers or in closing long-standing test score gaps between racial groups,” says Schaeffer.

I think if more studies like this were released, it would change how college admissions officers think of each student. I think it is very important that this topic is researched thoroughly because making a change to a test high schoolers think define the rest of their lives would be extremely significant and helpful. 

 

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/SAT_logo.gif

Superstorm Sandy: Much More Than Rain

In a recent article by Science Daily (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130418213919.htm) scientists believe that the powerful waves caused by storm shook the US; literally. "We detected seismic waves created by the oceans waves both hitting the East Coast and smashing into each other," says Keith Koper, director of the University of Utah Seismograph Stations. The most intense activity being near Long Island, New York and New Jersey, where the storm hit the hardest. "They are not earthquakes; they are seismic waves," says Koper who is a seismologist and associate professor of geology and geophysics. "Seismic waves can be created by a range of causes. … We have beautiful seismic records of the meteor that hit Russia. That's not an earthquake, but it created ground motion." The waves crashing together did create ground motion according to the research which goes to show how strong super storm Sandy actually was.

I think these tests could change the way the US tracks storms. The article explains that Hurricane Katrina was tracked using only seismometers which helped scientists estimate when the worst part of the storm would hit. If scientists find a way to update seismometers and make them more exact I think it could make preparing for storms, like Sandy, a lot safer.

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Ocean_waves.jpg

How Researching Babies Can help Us Learn About Stress

In an article published on Science daily researchers at the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute have found that stress circuits learn during the early stages of life. The study was shown to prove the theory that the brains stress response can be detected in babies and not just adults. "These new findings demonstrate that systems thought to be 'hardwired' in the brain, are in fact flexible, particularly early in life," says Bains, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. Bains also says that, "Using this information, researchers can now ask questions about the precise cellular and molecular links between early life stress and stress vulnerability or resilience later in life." Stress is related to so many health problems that can have a profound effect on the future of a person and discovering this could change the way scientists think of the stress response.

I think this article could really help people in the future. Stress is linked to so many diseases and has a huge effect on the body. If doctors can use this information to find a way to help people better cope with stress it could change the lives of many.

Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130407133314.htm

Image: http://access.ewu.edu/Images/CAPS/Stress1.png

Is the Treatment for Autism About to be Discovered?

In the article (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130313182019.htm) from Science Daily, researchers from University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have created a theory that has cured autism in mice. "Our (cell danger) theory suggests that autism happens because cells get stuck in a defensive metabolic mode and fail to talk to each other normally, which can interfere with brain development and function," says Robert Naviaux who is the professor of medicine and co-director of the Mitochondrial and Metabolic Disease Center at University of California San Diego. Even though the treatment worked on mice, it is not guaranteed to work on humans  "but we are encouraged enough to test this approach in a small clinical trial of children with autism spectrum disorder in the coming year. This trial is still in the early stages of development. We think this approach -- called antipurinergic therapy or APT -- offers a fresh and exciting new path that could lead to development of a new class of drugs to treat autism."says Naviaux. Autism disorders are complicated and are difficult to understand and treat. When the treatment changes the cell, it alters the genetic makeup which is thought to cure autism.

This article is very important to life today. Autism is a big problem and affects many people worldwide. A treatment to this disorder would change many lives.


image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Autism_Awareness_Ribbon.png

More That We Knew About The Human Brain

Caroline Goldberg
Mr. Webb
Science Blog


In the article from science daily (article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130307123947.htm) shows the development of the brain of a mouse with human brain cells. The study conducted by Dr. Steve Goldman. "We grafted human glial progenitor cells into the brains of newborn mice and then waited for the mice to grow to adulthood," Says Goldman. the mice that had the new cells expressed high activity and brain development. "We then assessed both neurophysiological and behavioral measures of learning and memory, finding that the engrafted mice exhibited more rapid learning of both conditioned associations and goal-directed tasks." says Dr. Miaken.

I think this article, I think, is very relevant in recent science. In the US, our students are falling behind in math and science that the fact that mice showed memory and task improvement with human braincells might give us a chance of changing our schools. If this expanding topic continues, scientists might be able to learn more about the brain and help channel it's amazing powers.


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Sleep: How It Helps You Learn

Caroline Goldberg
Science Blog
Mr. Webb

 The article I read this week from Science Daily (article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130226081155.htm) talking about the importance of sleep. Dr. Ines Wilhelm says, "Studies of adults have shown that sleeping after learning supports the long-term storage of the material learned." She conducted the same study on children and found ""In children, much more efficient explicit knowledge is generated during sleep from a previously learned implicit task." In the study, the data showed that after a full day of learning at school and at different hours of sleep, the children that got the most sleep did a better job remembering and applying the information they learned the day before.
This article is extremely relevant to my life and other serious students. The pressure to do well and still complete the hours of homework we have a night takes a toll on how much we sleep. I think if school directors would look at the study they could reconsider homework, project, and essay outlines.



image: http://blogmedia.eventbrite.com/wp-content/uploads/sleep-on-books-1.10.12.jpg

Dyslexia: More Than a Problem With Reading

Caroline Goldberg
Mr. Webb
Science Blog
Saturday February 23rd 2013


When someone hears the word dyslexia, what comes to mind is a problem with reading, but new research from Northwestern University  shows that not only do dyslexic children struggle with reading but that it is harder for their brain to decode sounds. In an article from Science Daily (article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219172159.htm) Nina Kraus says, "We discovered a systematic relationship between reading ability and the consistency with which the brain encodes sounds." Though the study researchers have found that children with dyslexia have trouble decoding sounds they hear because their brain has trouble processing them. The students that were very strong readers could decode sound faster and more accurately than children that were dyslexic or not strung readers. The children with dyslexia had inconsistent coding of the sounds they heard. In a similiar article (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140340.htm) Dr. Anne-Lise Giraud states that, "It is widely agreed that for a majority of dyslexic children, the main cause is related to a deficit in the processing of speech sounds." She conducted a study similiar to the one conducted at Northwestern University and ended up with the same conclusion.

Even though dyslexia is not a life threatening medical issue it is hard to live with and can make simple tasks challenging. This research could help doctors find a way to help children learn how to control their dyslexia and maybe even find a way to treat it. Dyslexia is currently not the biggest issue but finding a way to control it would make life easier for many children and adults that struggle with reading.

Image: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01545/childReading_1545929c.jpg

What Makes a Good Science Student?

For the first day of Reaction Quantities, we were given the question, what makes a good science student. In my opinion, a good science student has 3 qualities: creative, open minded, and organized. First off, a chemistry student must be able to be creative because they must be able to infer and make connections that might not be obvious. Being creative also suggests that the student can think outside of the box which can help them understand abstract concepts that aren't exclusively black and white. A science student must also be open minded. Because science is abstract and not always straightforward, a good science student must be able to be open about new and ideas and themes that might be hard to grasp at first. Lastly, a good science student must be organized. Science and especially chemistry requires notes, mnemonic devices, and organization of rules and exceptions of rules. The many complicated and sequential methods are important to learn in a certain order and a lot of science requires a student to refer back to notes, rules, and charts.



image: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/site_images/normal_2180.jpg

Changing DNA

Caroline Goldberg
Mr. Webb

A new article that was released on science daily.com (article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130201090612.htm) states that scientists are getting closer to be closer to another "industrial revolution." In London, researchers might have found a better way to deliver drugs ot patients and make them work more effectively. Scientists think they are now able to re-engineer DNA and mRNA and put the new cells into factories to observe how the cell changes, but in a more efficient way than before. They have shrunk the time down from 2 days to 6 hours to see the new strands of mRNA by changing the first set of DNA. This way of changing DNA also shows the efficacy of drugs given to potential patients.

I think this article is very interesting. I think it's very cool that scientists can look at how different medications effect people before they take them, which I think can really help in the future. It;s great to know that we could potentially look at side effects of medication before we give them people to make sure they are safe to take for any circumstance. This new study could really help change the future because humans or animals won't have to test medications before they are put on the market for people to take.

Vocabulary Isn't Enough

Caroline Goldberg
Mr. Webb
Saturday January 26th 2013


In a recent study conducted on kindergarten children a new theory has been proven to be true. It is now a fact that teaching kids general, not challenging vocab words in the early years of life effect their growing vocab as older children and teenagers. When teachers give their students not challenging vocab words and do not thoroughly teach the definition of the word, the kids miss patterns in words and don't learn the full definition of important words. Tanya Wright also says that there is not enough vocabulary in elementary school and it is not stressed as much as it should be. She also says that under-privileged children that do not go to a successful school start out with 10,000 words less than children that go to a successful school.

article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130124134046.htm

I think this article and study could really change things in schools. If vocabulary is not stressed enough, the SAT english section could continue to be a problem in America. I think if vocabulary is stressed more as children, we would be more successful while reading complex literature.

Hand Warmers: How Do They Work?

Caroline Goldberg
Mr. Webb
Chemistry Blog


Being in Colorado in January was brutal for me. It turned out to be -13 degrees on average. While there, I had to buy hand warmers, and being a new chemistry student, I wondered how they work. I found an article (http://www.tommcmahon.net/2008/01/how-do-hand-war.html) that explained how these hand warmer packets work. The material inside the packet has a chemical reaction with the air, like how something rusts, and causes a chemical change by getting warmer. The vermiculite in the packet slows the release of heat so the heat can last for hours. Even though these warmers are great, they don't last forever. The iron in the packet eventually becomes iron oxide and the heat stops being released.

Even though this isn't breaking science news, I wanted to know how these hand warmers work and I had no idea that it took so many chemicals just to make them. I do find it interesting that certain chemicals can react to help people stay warm while in the cold mountains.

The Truth About Flu Shots

In the article, Can the Flu Vaccine Make You Sick? (article: http://www.boston.com/dailydose/2013/01/10/health-answers-can-the-flu-vaccine-make-you-feel-sick/VM4emmq0F9LpsIYDvpLSTL/story.html) the many misconceptions of flu shots are explained. For many people, the reason they don't get flu shots is because they think getting a flu shot can give you the flu. Andrew Ulrich explains that the flu virus is dead when it is put in your body and the only normal reaction someone should have to the flu shot is soreness or tenderness to the injection site. He also says that many people are exposed to the virus before they get the shot and get sick. The common misconception is that the actual injection causes the flu virus.

This article is very relevant news wise because just this morning the flu virus outbreak was called an epidemic. I have also refrained from getting a flu shot in fear of getting the flu from the vaccine. Every year, flu vaccines are recommended for everyone over 6 months old and everyone in my family, other than my mom, gets a flu shot annually. After reading this article, I might reconsider.